A+E Interactive » wildfirehttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei
Bay Area Arts and Entertainment BlogMon, 30 Mar 2015 12:40:46 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1E3: Far Cry 2 hands-on a pyromaniac’s dreamhttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/07/24/e3-far-cry-2-hands-on-a-pyromaniacs-dream/
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/07/24/e3-far-cry-2-hands-on-a-pyromaniacs-dream/#commentsThu, 24 Jul 2008 14:00:17 +0000Gieson Cachohttp://www.ibabuzz.com/videogames/?p=888
It seems as if Africa is turning into the hot spot for video games. Resident Evil 5 is branching out to the continent. Sony is going to explore its wilds with Afrika. And now, Ubisoft Montreal is using the African… Continue Reading →]]>
It seems as if Africa is turning into the hot spot for video games. Resident Evil 5 is branching out to the continent. Sony is going to explore its wilds with Afrika. And now, Ubisoft Montreal is using the African savannah as its latest setting for Far Cry 2.
As fans of the original already know, Crytek, the developer who created the first game, has moved on, and with a new developer, Far Cry 2 is a completely different game. There are no super powers orIsland of Dr. Moreau back story.
Instead, it's a grittier game that takes place in a wide-open enviroment. According to level designer Sebastien Calarneau, there are more than 50 square kilometers of wilderness to explore. Just to show me how big that is, he showed me the map and zoomed out farther. That was pretty big. Still, he panned out wider and I almost got lost in the size of the place.
In Far Cry 2, players choose from nine playable characters as they try to take out the jackal, an arms dealer who is selling weapons to both sides of a vicious conflict. The gameplay is nonlinear and players can even kill some of the 12 buddies in the game though that may not be smart because they all provide support on your missions.
The best way I can describe Far Cry 2 is that it's almost like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion with guns. There's an overwhelming freedom to the title. Players can choose from more than 30 kinds of weapons. They can drive more than 10 types of vehicles including boats and branded vehicles such as Jeep (if that stuff matters to you).
When I was playing, I was supposed to bomb a pipeline and choose a loadout that included a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher. It was a lot of firepower and appropriately called "The All-American." I drove down near the pipeline and stalked through the brush. I started firing and all hell broke lose.
I got hit with a couple of bullets and had to pull them out at one point before using a syringe to heal myself. What was interesting was the way enemies helped each other out. If one wasn't instantly eliminated, a fellow AI-controlled character would grab them and pull them to safety, where they could recover.
It took a while to clear out the enemies. There were a couple of well-placed snipers. But afterward, I had to go through a secondary target near a village, and that's when I started playing with fire. And I'm not talking about gunfire. I'm discussing flamethrowers that ignite dry grass in the savannah and spread like wildfire, consuming everything in sight.
Fire was my friend in destroying enemies taking cover in huts. It also worked against me because I burned some ammo I needed. I ended up using up my recovery syringes and getting knocked out.
That's where your buddies come in and help you. One of them found me, carried me to safety and helped clear the stage while I recovered. I lost all my weapons, but I had a pistol he handed me and I continued on through the level.]]>http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/07/24/e3-far-cry-2-hands-on-a-pyromaniacs-dream/feed/0blaze_finalFCRY2_Jungle